Eating Hop Shoots

Have you tried eating hop shoots before? Maybe you should! It turns out that hop shoots are the most expensive vegetable in the world– and I have them growing wild in my back yard! To tell the truth, the wild hops in my yard are a real nuisance– they grow all over the shrubs back there, and don’t even produce very good hops for brewing with. But the shoots? Well, they are good to eat.According to my favorite foraging book, the shoots can be picked from mid-March to no later than May. So, now is the time!

I picked them for the first time this year, admittedly a bit skeptical. Mine are wild and not plump like the ones they hold festivals for in Belgium. Also, they were kind of prickly. But why not try them? People say that they are a good substitute for asparagus, which I love. I chopped up a few and cooked them in butter, an sprinkled with salt. Delicious! And indeed, very asparagus-like.

I couldn’t gather enough for a full side dish at dinner, so instead I added them to a foraged frittata last week. I sauteed wild onions in butter, then added the hops shoots, garlic mustard greens, and dandelions. The results were great!Do you have hops growing in your yard somewhere? Now is the time to pick the shoots– when they are just a few inches long, and tender. You can chop them and add them to your dishes in the same way you might use asparagus or another green vegetable.
You can also cook them more delicately by steaming them, then drizzling with a little olive oil and some freshly chopped chives.

Recipes for Eating Hop Shoots

The bines (not a typo– they are technically not vines) are great for covering up unsightly walls, as they grow quickly and have such lush leaves and are very pretty. They look a bit like grape vines. I have picked hops cones (the flowers) before and dried them to make teas– they have a calming, sedative effect.

I know of one cookbook right now that actually talks about eating hop shoots and gives instructions for preparing them– Jan Grigson’s Vegetable Book.Have you tried eating hop shoots? If not, have I talked you into trying them?

Common Sense Caution: Don’t go around eating plants you are not familiar with. Do some research first to make sure you know what it is. Google image search is your friend! I have a good collection of foraging books to help me spot edibles and avoid toxic plants. Here are a few I recommend: Food for Free, Foraging and Feasting, Thrifty Forager, The Forager’s Harvest. Also note that some people are allergic to hops.

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First of all great post! It’s great to see someone exploring the culinary side of hops!

Second, I don’t mean to get overly technical, but “the most expensive vegetable in the world” is the nearly white, sometimes purple, hop shoots that haven’t quite made their way to the sunlight. These are the hop shoots that are prized in Belgium and sell for about $128 per pound. They’re soft but crisp, and they aren’t prickly at all until they start to green up. Also, the price on them drops to about the same as asparagus once they start turning green.

This spring, put a few inches of mulch over the plants to maximize the amount of white hop shoots that you harvest; the mulch forces the hop shoots to travel a little further to break out and find the sun. Remove the mulch when you’re ready to harvest (Just before they break out of the ground) and you’ll find that you have lots of nice, soft, asparagus like hop shoots. I have photos of some at the link below:

Caution…if you let hops climb telephone pole support cables…they will climb to hot wires!!!…so I don’t let them climb any more…I pick the bine tips when they are tender, and add them to salads. If they don’t “snap” off easily they are not tender…..like asparagus!!!!

What species of hops are you gathering? The only one I’m aware of growing wild here in VA is Japanese hops, Humulus japonicus. While it is edible, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it in that stage of growth. It’s highly invasive here in VA and will tear up bare legs if you try to walk through it. It’s useless for brewing beer, lacking the lupulin glands of the species generally used for brewing.

[…] anything go to waste. I could have composted the sprouts in my backyard bin, but lately I’ve been reading quite a lot about eating them. I’m an adventurous eater and I love to cook, especially new […]

[…] Eating Hop Shoots – And Here We Are. Have you tried eating hop shoots before? Maybe you should! It turns out that hop shoots are the most expensive vegetable in the world– and I have them growing wild in my back yard! To tell the truth, the wild hops in my yard are a real nuisance– they grow all over the shrubs back there, and don’t even produce very good hops for brewing with. But the shoots? Well, they are good to eat. According to my favorite foraging book, the shoots can be picked from mid-March to no later than May. I picked them for the first time this year, admittedly a bit skeptical. I couldn’t gather enough for a full side dish at dinner, so instead I added them to a foraged frittata last week. […]

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About Ariana

Ariana Mullins is an American writer, cook, explorer and photographer. She shares her family's stories of challenge and adventure as expats in Europe, as well as inspiration for living a simple and meaningful life. She has a passion for restoring lost kitchen arts and loves to share her experiences in foraging, butchery, home brewing and anything new she can get her hands on in her Spanish kitchen.

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